Seminar on Business Opportunities in Belarus
The neighbouring Belarusian market will always be seen by Lithuanian entrepreneurs as providing an attractive outlook for development due to the on-going improvement of the country’s infrastructure and its advantageous geographical location with convenient access to the markets of Russia and the Ukraine. However, often opportunities for development in the country are slowed down by hardly predictable political steps of the Belarus authorities.

With this in mind, Law Offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous invites you to the business opportunities forum, where relevant issues will be introduced and discussed by representatives of Belarusian public authorities, as well as companies and advisers doing business in that country.

The forum on business opportunities in Belarus entitled Investment and Privatisation: Potential and Risks will be held on 29 November this year, at the Conference Centre of Hotel Europe in Minsk. The event will be held in Russian.

You may find more information here >>

RLN Advised BAIP grupė, an IT Investment Company, in the Acquisition of Norway Registers Development
Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office advised BAIP grupė, an Invalda group company, in its acquisition of 100% of shares in the Norwegian company Norway Registers Development, which has been participating in the development of register reforms in various countries and consulting on information system design for 15 years.

Raidla Lejins & Norcous work included negotiations, preparation of transaction documents and due diligence. The transaction was led by Dr Juozas Rimas, Senior Associate.

Latvian Parex Banka Sells its Leasing Companies in Russia
AS Parex banka operating in Latvia has sold two of its Russian subsidiaries, leasing companies Parex Leasing and Extroleasing, to a company of Unicorbank group.

Unicorbank is one of the leading Russian banks with seventeen years of expierience rendering a wide range of financial services to leading Russian companies, including financial support in carrying out various energy efficiency projects.

Raidla Lejins & Norcous Riga office represented AS Parex banka in the transaction.

Ius Laboris Wins the Award Law Firm Network of the Year in Europe
Ius Laboris, an alliance of leading law firms providing specialised services in employment and labour law, pensions and employee benefits, has been named European Network of the Year at The Lawyer’s third annual European Awards, held at the Grand Hotel Kempinski in Geneva.

This was the first time that Ius Laboris was nominated for such an award, and to win the award with the first nomination is an excellent achievement. In particular, the judges noted the alliance’s focus on quality and the contribution it has made over the last 10 years.

Ius Laboris, the world’s largest alliance of leading human resources law practitioners, is operating in 43 countries and has over 2,500 lawyers. Ius Laboris offers a unique solution to companies by providing them with an international platform coupled with a strong local presence.

Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn offices are the exclusive Baltic members of Ius Laboris since 2004.

You may find more information here.

Mergermarket: RLN Keeps Its Leader Position in the Baltic Legal Market
According to the latest league table of Mergermarket, an independent M&A intelligence service, published in October 2011, Raidla Lejins & Norcous law firms operating in the Baltics are ranked 6th by volume amongst the law firms which advised on transactions in the CEE region. For the second time this year Raidla Lejins & Norcous is included in the Top 10 highest ranking law firms in the CEE region.

To evaluate the performance of CEE law firms in the three quarters of 2011, Mergermarket included those M&A deals, the value of which was greater than USD 5 million (per single transaction).

In the period from January till October 2011 Raidla Lejins & Norcous advised on 34 transactions, 14 of which were worth more than USD 5 million (per single transaction).

During the nine months of this year Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office advised on 15 M&A transactions with the aggregate value higher than LTL 1.5 billion. Major deals include the largest deal in Lithuania since 2006 – advising AB Sanitas, a publicly-traded Lithuanian specialty pharmaceuticals company with a broad branded generics product portfolio in nine countries across the CEE region, in the EUR 364 million sale of the 87.2% shareholding to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.

Roschier, a leading Nordic law firm, which together with Raidla Lejins & Norcous forms the RR Alliance, is ranked 6th by Mergermarket by the number of M&A deals at the end of the third quarter in the Nordic Region.

You may find more information here.

RLN Advised UAB SEB Venture Capital in the Acquisition of Leading Lithuanian Fresh Bread Producers
Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office advised UAB SEB Venture Capital in the simultaneous acquisition of 100% of shares in two bakeries – UAB Molupis ir Ko and UAB Mentora ir Ko – operating at different locations in Lithuania. The combination has created one of the leading fresh bread producers in Lithuania with well-developed production base, product portfolio and diversified sales channels. Revenues of both companies were in excess of LTL 50 million in 2010.

Our work included negotiations, preparation of transaction documents, due diligence and assistance with merger clearance. The transaction was led by Dr Juozas Rimas, Senior Associate.

RLN Has Made a Donation to the Children’s Oncohematology Centre of the Santariškės Clinic
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the Vilnius office of Raidla Lejins & Norcous has made a donation to the Children’s Oncohematology Centre of the Santariškės Clinic of Vilnius University. The donated funds will be used for emergency cases of treatment of children with oncohematologic diseases, when there is a sudden and urgent need for a test to be performed outside Lithuania or for some orphan drugs.

According to Managing Partner Dr Irmantas Norkus, the firm unanimously decided to contribute to a social initiative by donating the funds allocated for the celebration of the firm’s anniversary. The Children’s Hospital was selected in view of a lack of funding for the treatment of oncohematologic diseases.

Managing Partner Dr Irmantas Norkus went to the Children’s Hospital, visited a number of its departments, met with the doctors and spoke with them about the treatment, nursing and living conditions of patients.

RLN Turned 10
On 13 September Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office celebrated its 10 years anniversary. Led by Dr Irmantas Norkus, today the firm is among the top-ranking law firms in the local market. On its 10th anniversary, the firm is a team of 75 people, and its lawyers are among the most skilled legal experts in the market offering legal advice to major local companies and international corporations. Raidla Lejins & Norcous, who has received the highest international rankings this year, plans to continue its intensive expansion in the future.

“This decade was special for us as it has brought us to where we are today – among the leading law firms. For us the past ten years was a period of much activity, marked by growth both on a local and international scale. Seven years ago we joined the RR Alliance and by consolidating our activities with our Swedish, Finnish, Latvian and Estonian partners we successfully entered the international market. Our strength has always been the ability to foresee our clients’ needs and new trends in the legal services business. I will not make a mistake by saying that our success was due to our ability to act faster than competitors and to anticipate rather than respond to changes in the market. We intend to follow this principle in the future,” says Dr Irmantas Norkus, managing partner of the Law Offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous.

You may find more information here >>

Senior Associate Olga Petroševičienė Defended a Doctoral Thesis
Senior Associate Olga Petroševičienė successfully defended a doctoral thesis entitled Capital Maintenance as a Safeguard of Creditors' Rights in Private Limited Liability Companies at the Faculty of Law of Mykolas Romeris University. She was awarded a PhD in Law.

Olga Petroševičienė conducted her research for a period of four years. The research which provides an in-depth analysis of capital maintenance in companies is the first of a kind in Lithuania. The research concludes that capital maintenance, either as efficient or non-efficient means of protecting creditors’ rights, was not analysed in Lithuanian company law doctrine before and that only fragmentary mention of the legal institution of capital maintenance can be found in scientific works covering other relevant company law aspects.

“This research is of high practical value. Considering that no scientific works or in-depth practical guidelines on capital maintenance were published in Lithuania, legal community overall lacks general understanding of capital maintenance as such and of its primary objective. Consequently, the analysis of the national doctrine and foreign doctrines, the legal framework and case law regarding capital maintenance in companies contained in the research will serve as a basis for making practical proposals to Lithuanian legislators aimed at simplification and increased efficiency of capital maintenance in the area of protection of creditors’ rights,” says senior associate Olga Petroševičienė.

Olga Petroševičienė is a member of the firm’s Real Estate and Construction Practice Group.

RLN Advised ATEA Group in the Acquisition of an IT Company from ELSIS Group
Raidla Lejins & Norcous Vilnius office advised UAB ATEA Baltic, Lithuania-based subsidiary of the ATEA Group, in the acquisition of a 100 % shareholding in UAB Elsis IT from the ELSIS Group. This acquisition will contribute to ATEA’s increased operational efficiency and will ensure significant improvement in its performance.

ATEA is the leading Nordic and Baltic supplier of IT solutions and services with more than 300 employees in the Baltics. Its total turnover in 2010 amounted to approx. LTL 170 million. Elsis IT has five representative offices, with more than 80 employees, in Lithuania’s largest cities. In 2010, the total turnover of the company reached LTL 37 million.

Raidla Lejins & Norcous responsibilities included due diligence, preparation and negotiation of transaction documents, merger clearance, as well as coordination of signing. Raidla Lejins & Norcous will also assist during closing. Managing associate Maksimas Saveljevas and senior associate Akvilė Bosaitė led the team.